Eyes in the dark
by Oblivian03
Summary: Travelling through Mirkwood, the company realises they are not alone in the forest. One shot. For a prompt.


**I don't own the Hobbit.**

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**This was written for another prompt by So-Sings-Nightingales. It was to a different section of the book and I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out but unsure of how to fix it. Passage was this; **

**"It was not long before they grew to hate the forest as heartily as they had hated the tunnels of the goblins, and it seemed to offer even less hope of any ending. But they had to go on and on, long after they were sick for the sight of the sun and of the sky, and longed for the feel of wind on their faces. There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. Even the dwarves felt it, who were used to tunnelling, and lived at times for long whiles without the light of the sun... The nights were the worst. It then became pitch-dark- not what you call pitch-dark, but really pitch: so black that you could see nothing... They slept all closely huddled together, and took turns to watch..." Tolkien then goes on to describe how they could see eyes gleaming in the dark all around them, and when they lit a watch fire it only attracted more eyes. However, the beings never showed themselves. A dwarfish perspective.**

**So-Sings-Nightingales: Sorry if this is bad but hope you find it okay anyway.**

**Everyone else: Enjoy it. I don't mind if you review some pointers on what I could fix up in this chapter (so long as I can build off it - please keep pointless ranting to yourself). I know I've been doing a lot of one shots but this is the last one for now and I will be getting back to multi chapters in a couple of weeks.**

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"This damn place needs wind blowing through it," Dwalin remarked, mood foul from the fact they had been walking through what always looked to be the same section of forest all day. The tall warrior was a man of action not inaction. Bofur, while not being as restless as the other, had to agree with his words.

"And you would think that the trees would vary a bit. I mean, how many times can you use the same shade of green for all the leaves?" Bofur's own cheerful mood was also somewhat dampened, his joking attitude washed away by his frustration and annoyance. He personally hated the fact that no real sunlight streamed through the thick canopy above their heads, barely enough sunlight to allow them to see their dank, dark and repetitive surroundings. He had the blood of dwarfish miners in him meaning that he did not crave sunlight like other races of beings did but it did not mean he never grew tired of the dark. There also seemed to be a strange presence in the woods and Bofur was more on edge than he had been the whole journey.

"And how do we know we're not going in circles?" Gloin called up from towards the back. Several of the others murmured their own thoughts on this, agreeing with the ginger dwarf's question.

"There's a hunk of rock over there that's new," Kili pointed out, his own attempt at a cheery outlook on their situation struck down by the dull look in his eyes, "We must have strayed off our beaten path somewhere along the line." It was a good try at humour though and earned him a small smile from his blonde brother, the hobbit and Bofur. But only a small one. After that, all the dwarves fell back into a depressed sort of silence.

There were a few goes at humour and joking around as some of the more lively of the company tried to lighten their comrades' spirits but to no avail. Bofur himself had long since given up at any such shows knowing any efforts were futile. Letting his feet kick the loose pebbles before him, the toymaker sighed as Bifur asked him a soft question in Khuzdul. Bofur nodded his head as he turned his head around to peer in the shadows, somewhat uncomfortable himself by the lack of movement in amongst the trees and the quickly lengthening shadows all around them. It was silent but not silent, seeming filled with a strange chittering that was just beyond their hearing. The toymaker barely stopped himself from shivering, feeling someone's gaze on the back of his neck.

"I think we should set up a camp for the night," he said finally, prompted by this feeling and backed up by Bifur's own somewhat vocal opinion on the matter that seemed to just hang in front of them as if the air itself was too thick for the words to travel through. Thorin turned around and, catching his meaningful gaze, nodded.

"Aye, we will stop here for we have pushed ourselves far today." His statement was reinforced by the wary but slightly pleased looks that the others shot at him. Bofur glanced around at the scenery and was relieved when the company leader ordered a watch to be set up. The thirteen dwarves and hobbit pulled straws, Bofur and Bombur both ending up with the short ended ones signifying they had the first watch.

"Wake me and Dwalin once it is time to change," Thorin said much to Dwalin's disbelief. The tall dwarf almost always was drafted for guard duty and now that he was exceptionally weary, he did not appreciate the gesture. Never the less he took it all in good heart as he and the others began to settle for the night after a meagre meal of thin, watery stew provided by the great efforts of Bofur. The toymaker himself had been hardly able keep a straight face as he had gulped down the tasteless concoction before positioning himself on the close outskirts of the tightly huddled group, Bombur taking up the space next to him. Together they prepared for the long night ahead, the toymaker freezing for a moment when he thought he saw a pair of eyes staring out at him from within the inky gloom.

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Poking a stick at the embers of the fire, Bofur breathed out a heavy breath, at a loss for what to do in the form of entertainment or to calm his racing nerves. He was admittedly not the bravest of dwarves and the now darkened state of the forest did nothing to reassure him of their safety. He could barely see his own hands let alone his brother's face for the light of the fire seemed to be gobbled up by the sheer blackness surrounding them.

"Bombur?" he called out softly, if only to assure his brother was still sitting by his side, though it was not like he couldn't feel the broad dwarf's presence. It was hard to mistake or misplace a figure that big.

"Yes?" the round dwarf answered back, his voice sounding both curious and slightly worried. Bofur made to answer when the tell-tale gleam of something reflecting the small watch fire glinted in the darkness. Again the sense of someone or something chittering sent chills up his spine.

"What's that?" he asked, drawing in a sharp hiss of breath.

"What's what?" his brother asked back, looking out to the direction he could see Bofur's silhouette pointing in but seeing nothing there. But by that time, there was nothing to see.

"There was a pair of…" The toymaker didn't want to say eyes for fear of sounding crazy, especially since they had appeared to have been floating in the pitch black light surrounding them. "Never mind."

"Is something on your mind?" Bombur asked, sidling up to is kinsman as he said this, trying to study the dwarf's face in more depth but failing to so much as even catch a glimpse. Bofur did not acknowledge this faint display of concerned brotherliness through the dark and continued to stare out in front of him. The eyes blinked into existence again.

"Look, there!" he called softly, not wanting to startle to creature they belonged to, if they belonged to a creature at all, or wake the rest of the sleeping company.

"What the…?" Bombur's voice was tight with a confused fear as he watched a second and then third set of glowing eyes appear in the overlapping shadows around them.

The eyes were like a feline's, with dark slits for pupils and greenish-gold in colour. They would move about every so often, darting in and out of sight as invisible lids blinked over the eerie orbs. It was like a dance, the shinning white-green streaks left behind drawing random patterns in the air.

"Should we wake the others?"

Bombur's question pulled Bofur out of the trance the eyes had put him in. The toymaker hesitated, unsure if they posed a threat, but as more continued to appear he made the decision to pull the others out of their dreaming state.

"Oy, get up!" he said sharply to the whole company shaking the sleeping form of Bifur next to him, not yelling but not speaking softly either. Bombur echoed his words and soon the others began to leap to their feet only to be told to be still by the two who had woken them.

"Look," Bombur told them, holding out a cautionary hand so as to stop the others from rashly attacking the apparitions before them. Kili was the first to speak, blinking blearily as he tried to keep his eyes open now that his adrenaline rush was over, lowering his sword as he did so, letting its point sink into the ground by the side of his feet.

"Are those…eyes?" the youth asked in a slow voice, his brother yawning beside him.

"It would appear so," Bofur informed them. Thorin groaned audibly, the dark purple bruises under his eyes clearly displaying his tiredness of dealing with situations just like this.

"Are my eyes deceiving me from lack of sleep or are there more than before?" Dwalin inquired, staring ahead of him as he counted the blinking spheres circling them. Bofur barely stopped himself from swearing aloud as he realised the buff warrior was right.

"Make the fire brighter," Thorin said, stretching, "Dwalin and I will take over watch from here." The mentioned dwarf did not seem to appreciate this change but accepted it, grudgingly taking Bofur's place on the edge of the company. Bofur thankfully accept his relief and moved to occupy the now empty space the tattooed dwarf had previously occupied. Bombur joined him as they laid back to back, faces turned away from each other. As the others settled down around them, the two brothers watched the ever present eyes warily.

"Do you think they'll go away?" Bombur asked. Bofur's mouth was a straight, grim line.

"I hope so otherwise I won't get any bloody sleep and will end up like Dwalin - a crab," he replied.

"Oy," came the call of the said dwarf. Bofur raised his head and shot him what could be deemed a halfway apologetic look. The other dwarf just glared at him and turned back to mutter a comment to Thorin, gesturing to the eyes still surrounding them. Bofur rested his head back on the ground, pillowing it on his arm.

It took a while but soon all the dwarves were snoring away, growing used to the prying eyes that continued to stare at them. Bombur's snoring in particular was very loud, and had Bofur not been used to it he would have probably done the dwarf in. Being his brother however, he took comfort in the loud sound and finally found peace curled up against his brother's warm, broad back.

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**Alright, give it to me straight; what did I do wrong/needs a large amount of fixing? **


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